Morose

The Gifted - Concluded

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@Nallore@BlueSky44@Achronum@Trainerblue192@Kirah

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Genosha: August 3rd, 2021 - 1:50 PM

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Veil & Casper & Sunshine

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Location: Various
Skills: Mediumship

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Bar Sinister...

"Mm, yes yes, go talk to your mother," Sinister said dismissively. "But breathe a word of this little project to anyone else and it'll be your head, lad."

"And we'll just bring back a son who can listen to us better," another Sinister added with a sneer.

"Anyways, off you pop, Jackie," the last Sinister said, before snapping his fingers. Sinister had a LARGE assortment of powers, most of them from the result of his experiments on himself and augmentations he had received from Apocalypse. One of them happened to be the ability to teleport.

And so, Jack was teleported right into his mother's living room, moments after Casper and James had walked in.

En Route to Renegade's...

Casper didn't usually think about the big questions - some might have claimed that his gift of speaking to the dead was wasted on him. He didn't spend much time pondering the hows and whys of existence, how the mortal soul operated, and what implications the existence of ghosts had on the afterlife. Until he had seen Selene eat ghosts during the massacre, he hadn't even been certain as to whether or not a ghost could be harmed. "I... I don't know," Casper admitted. "It's not fair to let some people come back and leave others dead - like what if there's the most deserving person in the world who died and we just don't know about it? Or what if we start deciding that because someone broke a law, they can't come back - but what if the law was rubbish and stupid in the first place? Can we even really judge who is good or bad? Does it matter? Do bad people get to come back too?"

"But I think they can be hurt - like, Selene ate people's ghosts," Casper said. "And then Ben was, like, dazed for a while after that entire thing. I dunno if they could bleed or anything, they certainly can't eat like waffles or whatever, they can experience heartbreak - I think Ben finally got over Max and Jackie... So I think we could definitely fuck it up. Like really bad. I just don't know what fucking it up would look like."

They made it to the door to Renegade's apartment and Casper knocked - the same knocking pattern that little Anna did in Frozen. "Mamaaaaaaan? C'est moi, ton fils préfèré!"

Renegade's (Rebuilt) Apartment...

"Mostly, yeah - Flower Child's really sad about her artwork, but... She'll bounce back. Kids are resilient," Renegade said, as Purple Mongoose started climbing up the wall and onto the ceiling, running around in circles. She was babbling some sort of nonsense about being a fairy princess and needing to find her lady knight to protect her - clearly bored of the adults and wanting to do something more make-believe for a moment.

There was a knock at the door, followed by the whiny voice of Ellie's middle son, Casper. Renegade opened up the door and her jaw just about hit the floor, seeing a baby boy in James' arms. "Is... Is that a bébé?!" Renegade exclaimed, looking like she was either about to faint, scream, or cheer. The emotions on her face were changing by the second.

"Maman, meet Danny - your grandson, not the phantom kid from Nick," Casper said.

And then to add to the drama, Jack suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the living room.

"You.... What???"

En route to Max's...

Veil blinked for a moment, a slight blush coloring her cheeks. She hadn't even thought about asking someone to the Hellfire Gala. But the instant that Spark Plug brought it up, the dark haired speedster came into her mind - Aurora. Veil dismissed the thought as soon as it came though. She didn't really know Aurora. And she had never really put much stock into a dating life. She had always been too busy, first with the Underground, and now on Genosha's Quiet Council.

"I honestly hadn't really thought of it - you know my dating life's been pretty dry since... well, since I started with the Underground," Veil admitted to Spark Plug. "I imagine my brother is going with Legion. They're weird together, but it makes sense," she said with a shrug. She had been rather irritated with the weird psychic stuff that Echo and Legion had been up to earlier, but time and distance had caused the irritation to fade. If her brother was happy, then that was all that mattered. "What about yourself?" Veil asked, as they reached Max's apartment and Veil knocked on the door.

Max's Apartment...

Pixie rolled her eyes slightly. "John Lewis is a department store, silly," she chastised him. "But I s'pose you Americans don't have them, then. Which is a pity - they're really lovely." However, she didn't spend too much time teasing Max. She was instead mildly amused by Echo's reaction to her pixie dust. Not many people realized that Pixie actually had a bit of a mutant lineage of her own - her sisters in fact were infamous for their illusion powers, as was her horrible father. The illusions would clear from Echo's eyes and Pixie stuck out her tongue at him.

"Aww, you should've left him like that," Sunshine said with a slight pout. It had been rather funny to see Echo's befuddlement, though Sunshine likely would've pushed things further. It was a pretty minor reaction from him and she knew that he definitely had way more range than that. Echo could've at least screamed or something.

"Next time, make him think his body is rotting away to nothing," Marrow suggested, as there was a knock at the door. Marrow opened up the door, revealing Veil and Spark Plug outside.

"Casper and James are on their way. They just... have to drop off their baby."

"Wait, someone let that idiot have a baby?!?!" Sunshine exclaimed, before cackling like mad. "Oh gods this is amazing. This is the best day of my life. Casper raising a baby. That's fucking mad. James is fine, but Casper???"

Outside the House of M...

"THE MOON GODDESS WANTS A CHAMPION." The skull then stopped talking again, letting the words hang in the air. The concept of gods having champions was not really much of a thing when it came to Asgard - Asgardians would have demigod children, but they didn't usually have mortals to do their bidding. That was more of a Greek or Roman concept - and Selene did love to LARP as a Greco-Roman goddess.

What If?

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Jade & Guin

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Jade hadn't planned on Thor, Hulk, and Thing's distraction being only temporary. She had figured that they would fight until they were knocked unconscious. She didn't expect them to come and rejoin the group. If that happened, then Magneto's forces were not nearly as impressive and formidable as she had been led to believe. Carolina slipped on out of her body and Edus came back from a quick peak, explaining that there were four around the corner he didn't recognize. "Perfect, hopefully these two can possess some of them," Jade said softly.

Carolina and Guin were real wild cards in that sense - their powers could be drastically upgraded provided they possessed the right people. If it wasn't for Magneto's helmet, Jade would've even suggested one of them go try to possess the Master of Magnetism himself.

"I'll go take a look," Guin said softly. She figured she had a better chance than Edus did at recognizing the people in the hall. If she got lucky, maybe she'd even manage to pull off a switch with one of them. And if she was unlucky... well, there were others here with more useful powers than hers - powers that could make a huge difference in this struggle against Magneto. Guin forced a slight smile, before moving quietly and stealthily back the way Edus had come from. Eventually, she peeked her head around the corner into that hallway, spotting the group of four.

She recognized one of them instantly - Avalanche. He worked for the Brotherhood and his name was rather descriptive when it came to his powers. Guin couldn't recognize the other three though. She slipped back around the corner, thinking for a moment. Did she want to go switch with Avalanche? With the other three present, it'd be difficult to pull off. She'd probably be better off waiting to find someone more solitary, or waiting for some of the others to engage this group. She turned her head back to the group, before pointing at the ground and then shaking her hands - the best way she could sign Avalanche (as someone who knew no actual sign language).

Agents of SHIELD - Concluded

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@BlueSky44@Kirah@Nallore@Natsu

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EARTH 257 - 8:30 PM Nov. 14th, 2021 - Genosha

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The Waiting Grove -

"It's not much to look at right now - it got pretty damaged when the X-men retrieved it for me about a decade ago," Banner explained. "But sure, you can take a look at it... And if you want, you could even help me fix it... But no pressure, I totally get it if you want to help your friends instead," Bob added, his words a bit rushed. He was clearly nervous and wanting to win over his daughter - there was a certain amount of guilt in the way he carried himself as well. At least he wasn't turning green.

"And... Honestly, I hadn't thought about that. But... I think that sounds like a brilliant idea," Bob said with a smile. "A multiversal phone... Maybe then you could, uh, you could give me a call? Once you go back home."

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Flynn -

Flynn was doing his best to convince "Bonnie" that he wasn't the one at fault - but really, the person he was so desperate to convince was himself. A drawer slid open behind him with a gigantic thud - and when Flynn turned to look, he'd see that it was a body drawer, with a cadaver on the slab. A woman with a frosty complexion and snow white hair was laid out, with sickening burns around her neck.

"Bonnie" was suddenly standing next to him, a clipboard in her hand. "Hmm, Sapphire - her chart says that you killed her, Agent Flynn," Bonnie said, turning to look at him. "There's so much pain in you," she added. "Maybe it is better for you to disappear - to let someone else be Agent Flynn."

Bonnie -

Bonnie paused, considering Athena's offer. She was uneasy about this. She had never wished to have powers - to be a superhero. But then again, she had never imagined she'd end up being a SHIELD agent - her original dream had been to work in animation as an artist. "I need your word that if I want out, this all stops," Bonnie requested. "I won't take this deal otherwise." Athena hadn't let onto what it was, but Bonnie knew that there had to be a catch here.

"Ten years of service," Athena countered - the length of time that poor Odysseus was away on the Odyssey, not including time in the Trojan War.

"...Deal," Bonnie said. And then everything went grey.

Cass -

As Cass focused on that memory of Matt, her mind anchored itself on it. Her surroundings would change until she was back at that day, sitting down at the Chinese restaurant in San Fransisco. Matt was telling her a joke, laughing and smiling. The waiter brought out the food, setting it down in front of them. Matt's food was fairly ordinary fair, but Cass was served a plate with two brains on it - human brains. She was given a single fork and knife to use.

"Are you going to try your food or what?" Matt asked, taking a bite into his meal.

The brain on the left had what looked like hot sauce in the shape of the SWORD logo drizzled onto it - the brain on the right had what looked like the SHIELD logo drizzled onto it.

Oliver -

As Oliver became resolute in who he was - deciding what sort of person he wanted to be, free of the chains of fate and destiny, choosing to be someone good and righteous... he would find himself waking up in the Healing Gardens. His mind would be restored, clearer than it had been since he had arrived on Earth-257 - maybe even clearer than it had been for a while. The personality bleed and memories from Earth-257 were locked away for the moment, tucked away in a corner of his mind where they couldn't dictate what he did.

"How do you feel, son?" Professor X asked. Had Oliver been able to peer behind the Cerebro helmet he wore, he'd be able to see the beads of sweat trickling down Xavier's face. Xavier was nearing his limit.

Maria -

Maria's mind would integrate itself into a single identity - part Maria of Earth-666, part Syphon of Earth-257. The two would bleed together, becoming one person - a sort of marriage of the two, in body and soul. Where did one stop and the other begin? Did it even matter? Maria would then open her eyes, finding herself in the Healing Gardens. She would see Professor X standing over Oliver, looking concerned.

Niah -

Niah's selves also integrated into one coherent person - a mixture of all of the Niahs who had been from Earth-666 and the one from Earth-257. She had become her own multiversal amalgamation. When Niah opened her eyes, much like Maria, she would find herself in the Healing Gardens. Professor X was standing over Oliver, his posture clearly projecting that he was concerned. Niah would also now find that she had complete memories of Earth-257 - she remembered everything.

Matt -

Matt's mindscape was really doing its very best to avoid the laws of physics. He reached for his gun, but he fumbled it, the gun coming unclipped and then floating off into the water. If he tried to grab it again, his fingers would miss - and the tentacled monster soon pulled Matt up higher and higher and higher, until he broke the surface of the ocean, finding himself face to face with the upper half of a gigantic kraken.

Only this was no ordinary kraken. No, the kraken had the face of a human - someone that Matt remembered, someone Matt would recognize instantly. It was his own face. The kraken Matt sized him up, almost tilting his head as if waiting to see what Matt would do next. And then, because none of this made any sense, the kraken started to speak, its voice echoing in Matt's head: "Just give in. This'll all be over soon."

Amelia -

Amelia opened her eyes, her head spinning slightly. Much like Maria and Niah had chosen to integrate themselves, rather than shut a part away, Amelia had done the same. She was both Amelia and Aero, ex-SHIELD agent and Avenger of the Blue. But at her core, she was the same - a thrill seeking free spirit, someone who jumped before looking, who screamed with delight at a sudden drop. "Damn, cunt, that was intense - and weird," Amelia said with a slight whistle. "Oh, sorry, my b - I keep forgetting you can't say that word here."

She hopped off of the bed, noticing that Professor X was standing next to Oliver, looking worried. Amelia considered Oliver to be one of her best friends - and now she remembered him properly. She walked on over. "Mate, you alright there?" she asked.

🌠 Once Upon A Time 🌠(Concluded)

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Megan Pendragon

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Location: Atlantica
Skills: N/A

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The group was taken to the armory, once the maps had been retrieved. Megan thought for a moment about the armory of Camelot - she remembered now being fascinated by the place as a small child. Weapons, swords in particular, sparked her imagination - they were instruments of both life and death, means of protection and devastation. They were divinely macabre, a sort of harmonious sadistic power. It wasn't an accident that she had taken up fencing in the real world - handling a sword felt just as right as handling a scalpel or a bone saw.

"I don't need anything in here, but my brother needs something to keep him from bleeding out," Megan said once they reached the armory. She raised a slight eyebrow at the trident energy weapon Sierra had picked out - that definitely seemed useful. She didn't trust Jack with one of those though - he'd probably blow himself up by accident.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️

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Location: Camp Half-blood: Big House -> in the Van
Skills: N/A

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Nancy had never really felt an actual sibling-like bond with any of her siblings before. She didn't have any siblings from her mortal side (at least, none that she knew of and Nancy didn't care to look), and she had far too many to keep track of from her godly side. Zeke and maybe Alexandra were the only two that Nancy really considered to be her siblings in the traditional sense - it was something more than just being connected as a child of Apollo. "You're the only Greek that doesn't make me want to gag myself with a spoon," Nancy said with a slight shrug.

Nancy bit back a slightly mischievous smile as Joanie bit Zeke's finger. "Good girl, Joanie," Nancy whispered, giving her dragon an affectionate pet on the head. She didn't actually want Joanie to hurt Zeke, but she was slightly amused that Joanie had bit Zeke - in the same way a mortal kid might've been a little bit amused by a cat nipping at their sibling.

A moment later, the Jupiter kid took a group photo - Nancy didn't intend it, but she ended up having a serious case of resting bitch face in the photograph. She shrugged slightly at Zeke's offer to sit next to him, but it wasn't a dismissive shrug - paradoxically, it was Nancy's way of assenting. She overheard the Bacchus kid - his presence sent a chill down her spine - offering some arrows to Zeke. She didn't like that a Bacchus kid would be on this quest. The Lotus Hotel and Casino... that horrific place... it was everything that Bacchus idolized.

And that terrified Nancy.

She got into the van, taking the offered seat next to Zeke, with Joanie curled up in her lap.

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🌈 Leda Storm 🌈

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Location: NYC - Pier
Skills: Driving

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Leda was chuffed to see that both Kiera and Arthur agreed with her read of the situation - she had honestly been expecting some pushback. She had figured that they'd both be antsy to focus on their actual quest, rather than going off and getting sidetracked. Leda though wasn't too concerned about the waste of time personally; in her experience, quests tended to work themselves out anyways. There would be inevitable delays, at least this would be one that they could choose. And when they needed to be somewhere, she trusted that they would be there.

"Right, back in you lot," Leda said. Her sword reverted to a necklace around her neck and she hopped back into the driver's seat of the cab. Once Kiera and Arthur were in, she drove them towards the place they had narrowly escaped. Hopefully the cyclopses (or whoever was there) would assume that they'd given a bit of a struggle before being overpowered. "Be on your guard, you too - cyclopses are big and dumb, but they're nasty motherfuckers," Leda warned. "One good hit to the head and they'll knock you out cold."

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Guin Stark

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Location: Stark Tower
Skills: Telepathy

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Guin closed her eyes, concentrating on Pietro as he ran throughout the tower. Ordinarily, she might've just waited for him to get back and report, but she didn't want to waste time. Instead, she used their telepathic rapport to see through his eyes, taking in all of the information he was collecting at the very same time that he did. The first few times she had tried sensory scrying, she had gotten a bad case of motion sickness; and while she didn't collapse to the ground, her head still felt like it was spinning. There wasn't much of anything important on the upper few levels, but once Pietro got to the lower floors - the living quarters for some of the staff and guests - that changed.

It looked almost ransacked down there - holes in the walls, objects thrown about, papers littering the floor. Either there had been a huge fight or everyone had suffered from a mental breakdown before evacuating. Guin focused, making sure to speak through her body. "JARVIS, is there anything recording what happened on the lower living floors of the tower?" Guin asked. Babe, any chance you can figure out what happened down there? Guin then asked Pietro.

I mean I can try... Why Guina?

I've just got a bad feeling about this.

JARVIS pulled up a few recordings and Guin re-focused, sliding her active mind back into her own body, perceiving things through her own senses. The first recording JARVIS played was dated not too long after the Battle of New York, and it showed the Avengers struggling with their grief, devolving into fighting amongst themselves. The next recording was years later, and Guin's heart shuddered slightly. Quicksilver and the Brotherhood came to attack the tower, endangering Pepper's life - and then something happened that Guin couldn't quite perceive, forcing everyone to scatter and leave. "I..." Guin shook her head slightly.

She didn't even realize where she was going until she had stepped into her childhood bedroom at the tower, closing the door behind her and sliding down to the ground. She concentrated on her breathing, breathing in and out, in and out, doing her best not to sink again from the tidal wave of overwhelming feelings. Her room looked like it had been untouched, an eerie time capsule of a person that Guin hadn't been in a long time. From the looks of the room, Guin had barely been a teenager the last time she had been here.

N-never mind, JARVIS showed me what happened.

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Runa Baldurdattir

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Location: Stark Tower
Skills: N/A

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It then occurred to Runa that this Lance would know the events that had led to the abandonment of this tower. She was a bit confused as to why he said that the tower was left in a hurry. As far as she was aware, there was plenty of time for the tower to be sorted once Tony Stark had died. Or was Lance referring to the hurried evacuation when her uncle attacked Midgard? "What do you mean, they all left in a hurry? I am sorry - my Midgardian history is rather... spotty." She also knew the history of a different timeline, but Runa didn't point that out.

She nodded at Lance's question about the ship. "Yes, we have a craft that ought to be repaired. I imagine one of Yggdrasil's branches damaged it..." Runa trailed off. She thought of the universe as an Asgardian would - she thought of the world tree as the basis of reality, and slipping in between its branches as a gateway to other universes. "Though... I suppose perhaps we could ask Asgard for a vessel."

The Gifted - Concluded

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@Nallore@BlueSky44@Achronum@Trainerblue192@Kirah

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Genosha: August 3rd, 2021 - 1:40 PM

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Veil & Casper & Sunshine

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Location: Various
Skills: Mediumship

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Bar Sinister...

One of the Sinisters sighed, slumping his shoulders slightly. It was unclear whether the Sinister was actually sad about Renegade being sick, his inability to cure her properly, or that Jack just wouldn't let the question go. "She has a deadly, mutated variant strain of M-Pox," Sinister finally said. "I've named it X-Pox, as in Essex Pox after myself of course for its discovery."

Another Sinister then jumped in. "It's incurable. And if we can't fix it, then there's no one else out there in the world who can," he commented. "Not even one of those nasty Hank McCoy variants could do it. Face it, sonny, your mother's body is doomed. Better to prune it away before it can mutate even further and find a way to spread..."

Renegade's (Rebuilt) Apartment...

Renegade shrugged off Moneta's apologetic look - she really didn't mind. She loved using her powers for little things like that anyways - it made her feel alive. Sure, using her powers for the betterment of mutantkind was also fulfilling, but in a different way. It was nice to just do things for fun, not because lives depended on it. She led them inside to her apartment and opened it up. Flower Child was still off elsewhere on the island and wouldn't be home for a bit, so Moneta, Mongoose, and Renegade had the place to themselves.

Most of Renegade's things had survived, so it looked pretty similar to how Moneta had seen it last - only the drawings Flower Child had made were gone. They'd been lost in the attack on the island. But already there was one new drawing up, depicting what looked like the Heroes of Genosha saving the kids of the Akademos from strange monsters the size of skyscrapers.

"Make yourself at home," Renegade said with a shrug.

Outside the Hospital...

People didn't usually think of Casper as the observant type - he had a reputation for being easily distractible. But that was the paradox that was at his core - in order to speed off topic so easily and so quickly, Casper couldn't help but notice the little things, the tiny moments. They usually sparked a new train of thought in his head, abandoning the big things in favor of the small. And here and now, Casper immediately noticed the way that James tensed up - the way James' entire body screamed we are in danger. Casper shifted his stance immediately, stepping out slightly in front of James, in order to do his best to protect him and make it clear to the world that no one was getting to his husband without a fight.

"I... I think maman can handle Danny," Casper said, trying to project an aura of calm now for James. That more or less resulted in Casper's fingers being twitchy and jittery, and him not being able to settle into a comfortable stance. "And sure, let me just think that back," Casper paused, before thinking as loud as he could the thought that James had asked him to give.

The reply then came (in only Casper's mind) - "Thanks. See you then. And got it, let James know we won't do any other telepathic calls."

"Okay, Veil says okay, and they won't use telepathy to contact you anymore," Casper explained. "So... to the apartment complex then? Maman will hopefully be there, so we can give Danny to her..."

Max's Apartment...

Sunshine paused for a moment, before blurting out. "Where the hell are we going to find a bunch of candles people aren't needing?" she asked. The only candles she could think of at the moment on the island were in heavy use, helping to provide lighting for those whose shelters did not currently have power, or acting as portions of memorials to the fallen 198 mutants lost in the attack.

Pixie snorted slightly. "I can handle getting us candles, can just pop on over to John Lewis and rummage up some," she said, referencing a home goods chain local in the UK. She didn't mention anything about paying, but perhaps it was best not to ask. Pixie giggled slightly at Harry's curiosity, before blowing a puff of pink dust into his face - and suddenly, Harry would be hallucinating that everyone in the room had turned into a Sailor Moon style magical girl!

"I guess that's everything, then," Marrow commented with a shrug, before eating some more of the marrow stew. "Can't believe you're going to casually raise the dead, but whatever. If it works, you'll be a legend. More than that, actually. You'll be a god."

Outside the House of M...

The skull said nothing. Selene had instructed the skull to deliver the presents to Luna Minor, claim her as her daughter, and ensure that the spell of transformation was completed (which it seemed to have been, given her new status as an energy vampire). Selene had also mentioned not wanting to see Luna Minor just away, explaining some worry that her daughter might turn out to be an uninteresting flop, and that there'd be plenty of time for them to chat at the gala.

Zari, meanwhile, would be feeling just a little bit tired from Andy draining her - like Zari had been doing a light warm-up before a workout - tired but alert.

Outside the Green Lagoon...

"They'll meet you back at the apartment, and James doesn't want any future telepathy," No-Girl chimed into Veil and Spark Plug's minds. Veil thought a response back to Casper, telling him that they understood and would meet him there, and then No-Girl ended the connection. "Is that everything?" Martha asked, sounding a little bit impatient. Even though she was a floating brain in a jar, she still had things she wanted to do and people she needed to go see.

"Yes, thank you," Veil said. Martha then floated off inside the Green Lagoon. Veil shrugged at Callie's question about whether or not Casper had kidnapped a baby. "I'm guessing no, since James is with him? I don't think James would be cool with kidnapping," Veil said. She was pretty confident James would never kidnap someone - Casper she wasn't too sure about. "But we should head back to Max's place then, they'll meet us there and then we can see if Max can pull off a miracle on demand this time."

Agents of SHIELD - Concluded

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@BlueSky44@Kirah@Nallore@Natsu

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EARTH 257 - 8:20 PM Nov. 14th, 2021 - Genosha

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The Waiting Grove -

Bob Banner nodded, a chilly feeling then coming over him. He knew now why the universe had brought Lana here. It wasn't so that way he could see his daughter again, so that way he could know that she was safe and loved - no, it was so he could lose her all over again. He would have to cast her away into the multiverse, sending her far away. He would have to be the one to do it; he was the first one, to his knowledge, who had cracked the code of multiversal travel. "I'll get you home to her," Banner swore. "It'll take me a day or two to get the machine running again, but... I'll make sure it happens."

Raynor was grateful to hear that Bob would send them all back to Earth-666. His cousin had summoned an immense amount of dark magic in order to send him to Earth-666 last time, back when Sparky was just a little baby. He knew his cousin must've paid a dear price for that, one that he could never repay, no matter what he did. "Thanks... Bob," Raynor said. He wanted to let Sparky do most of the talking - this was her father, after all.

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Flynn -

Bonnie turned to look at Flynn again for a moment, an amused smile twitching on her lips. "No. You didn't cause my burns," Bonnie said. "The fire had started long before you arrived on the scene, Agent Flynn. It wasn't your fault," she then finished, turning her attention back to her work. There was a flash of light, and an engagement ring appeared on her finger - but then it was gone as soon as it had appeared.

"My pain is not your burden," she said again, breaking the silence. "It's mine," she stressed. She then turned her attention to him again. Suddenly, Flynn would see manifestations of burn wounds and scar on his own body. "What burdens you, Agent Flynn?"

Bonnie -

"What choice do I possibly have to make?" Bonnie asked, the question coming out harsher than she had meant it. She hadn't asked to have a goddess inside of her head - she hadn't ever been consulted as to whether or not she wanted these gifts from Athena. Part of her was grateful to not be dead, particularly on behalf of her unborn daughter - but at the same time, Bonnie couldn't help but be angry. Her autonomy had been violated. She didn't have agency in these godly affairs.

Athena's bright eyes flashed for a moment. "I saved you from death in Cardiff. And I have done so again. I gave you my blessing freely," Athena said. "But now, the choice is yours - become my champion and accept my quests. In return, I will give you more than just my blessing... I will give you my power."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes for a moment. She couldn't help but feel suspicious. Why would a goddess give away power, unless desperate? "What sort of quests?" Bonnie asked bluntly. "I find it hard to believe an immortal goddess would need me to do anything she couldn't do herself."

"I am the goddess of heroes," Athena chided. "I cannot undertake tasks that make and shape a heroine. I can make my will known through my chosen - through champions like you, Bonnie. If you accept, then you will have the power needed to save your friends... and to save the multiverse. I will not offer it again."

Amelia -

Captain Marvel got off of her feet. Something had been knocked loose in Amelia's mind - a stray memory, not from her life in the Blue, but from growing up in Australia. It was such a random memory too, not one that would be deemed important or significant to anyone else, but important to Amelia all the same. It was her going to a bookstore in her late teens, buying the new St. John Allerdyce novel. She had always loved those romance stories - which she knew seemed silly, as Amelia never cared about romance for herself.

But it gave her a moment of clarity - Amelia felt that life. And she couldn't bear to lose it. She couldn't bear to lose a single bit of herself. "Right, sheila, if it's a fight you want, it's one you'll bloody get," Amelia promised. Captain Marvel began to glow, flying at Amelia.

And Amelia flew right back at her, unflinching, focused. Her head was clear and her heart was certain. She wanted to remember - to remember all of it, this world and that world.

Cass -

"Your thoughts are scrambled and slippery, Cassandra - I need you to focus, focus on one thing, something important to you," Professor X's voice said, echoing around her. If Cass looked around her room, she would see the walls were rippling and morphing. At one point, she was in her childhood bedroom, then, a moment later it had turned into her college dorm, and then it kept shifting and shifting, flickering between different rooms that Cass had called her own throughout the years.

If she focused on it too long, it would become incredibly disorienting. If she listened, she could hear different people's voices calling out to her - Carolina, Matt, Bonnie, Tinley, her mother, her father, Guin.

Maria -

Things would begin to crystallize inside of Maria's mind. There was the strange red glow in her own hands. Slowly though, the glow began to solidify, until Maria was holding what looked like a gigantic ruby in front of her. Her memories of Earth-257, she somehow knew, were contained inside of it. Leaving the ruby behind would mean throwing away those memories, locking them up essentially. But if she kept the ruby, if she accepted the memories, then they would be hers forever.

The choice was now hers - to become a Maria of two worlds or to stay a Maria of one.

Oliver -

Niah -

"Isn't that why you're here?" a Niah chided. "To murder us?"

"Psychic surgery - just a pretty way to dress up sororicide," another Niah chimed in.

The Niah holding onto her had burst into tears, her grip loosening. Sometimes, love and compassion was the best way to address an issue - especially when arguing with fragments of your own psyche. By comforting this Niah, Niah had put an end - at least for now - to the violence. "I matter - we all matter," the Niah said hoarsely. "Don't let him kill us."

Matt -

The kid didn't seem too happy to hear Matt explain that he didn't have a son. His eyes narrowed a little bit in anger. "Wow, real mature, Dad," the kid said, rolling his eyes now. The tentacles continued to pound over and over again against the walls of the submarine. "And of course I know where the bridge is, duh," the kid then added. The submarine wouldn't be able to take much more.

The kid walked off to Matt's right, heading in the direction of what must've been the bridge. The kid climbed up a ladder of sorts to go to one of the higher levels of the submarine. Matt would hear the glass crack - rather than him instantly dying though, as physics would likely deem, Matt would have a chance at outrunning the violent gush of water sweeping into the submarine.

Or the tentacle reaching inside...

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Guin Stark

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Location: Stark Tower
Skills: N/A

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Guin didn't want to admit it, but she was a bit relieved that JARVIS didn't try to kill her on sight. She didn't need to contend with whatever that would do to her psyche, given that the AI had been one of the small handful of people actively involved in raising her as a child. It did make her sick though to hear the information he had, even though it was stuff she had mostly figured out already. She couldn't help but be angry at both the Avengers and Pepper and Happy for leaving Stark Tower in a mess like this; and for abandoning her after her abduction. She had never thought before that they had just been around her dad for the money, but now, she wasn't sure how else to explain it - how else they could throw everything away without a fight...

"Are there any Stark safe houses remaining in the city?" Guin asked JARVIS. She figured if any of them were still functioning, they could go crash there. In their reality, there were a few in cities around the world - she just didn't remember if any New York ones had been established prior to the formation of the Avengers. Unfortunately, JARVIS answered that there weren't any. They didn't have an easy, ready to use place to evacuate to.

"What equipment or tools are still left, then?" Guin asked. Maybe there'd be something they could use to fix either Danger or the ship. JARVIS answered that larger tools had been moved to a warehouse, whereas smaller ones might still be in the tower. "Pietro, can you rush around really quickly, see if you can find any tools?" Guin asked. She didn't know how much exploration she actually wanted to do of the tower - it felt like a tomb. A tomb that was threatening to bury her.

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Runa Baldurdattir

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Location: Stark Tower
Skills: N/A

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Runa was grateful to see that her plea had been clearly communicated to Edus. She felt so completely overwhelmed in this situation, like her throat was being crushed under the foot of a mighty bilgesnipe. She had never been faced with a situation quite like this before - having someone she cared about so dearly just ripped away from her without a moment's notice. Even when all of Asgard would berate her and whisper horrible things about her, at least they had known who she was. She was nothing to Lance now; and it was breaking her heart, as he was everything to her. She was several hundred years old, but developmentally Runa was a teenager, learning that her boyfriend had severe total amnesia.

She sniffled slightly as Edus worked his magic - and as it failed. "Thank you," she murmured quietly, the sense of hopelessness clear in her voice. She felt far more despondent than she had when her last boyfriend had broken up with her - the Greek god Apollo. She felt like she had imagined it, when that flicker of recognition was in Lance's eyes - her hopes were pretty much dead and gone, it was just wishful thinking, she rationalized it away...

She nodded quietly as Lance led the way down another direction from the others. They ended up in what looked like a lab area, and Runa had to pause for a moment. She knew almost nothing about Midgardian technology - she was still confused as to how phones and whatnot worked. "...I... I do not know what we are looking at, son of Banner," Runa admitted.

The Gifted - Concluded

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@Nallore@BlueSky44@Achronum@Trainerblue192@Kirah

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Genosha: August 3rd, 2021 - 1:30 PM

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Veil & Casper & Sunshine

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Location: Various
Skills: Mediumship

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Outside the Hospital...

Unfortunately, ghosts could not hear telepathy - so Ben had little to no idea what was going through Casper's mind as Casper's jaw dropped. "I didn't know Veil and Callie were telepaths," Casper said, looking at James for reassurance. He was definitely feeling overwhelmed, what with the new baby and the fact that Ben apparently was trying to come back from the dead - and let's be honest, Casper wasn't already the most logical of people on a good day. It just didn't occur to him that someone else was projecting their voices into their minds.

"Sooo.... It looks like Ben is telling the truth, which makes sense because you were always a horrible liar, no offense," Casper said. "Do we have time to help bring someone back from the dead when we have a baby though? Can we get a babysitter for that? Or I guess we could just ask Maman to watch after him, she might be a little mad she's a grandma because she's too fabulous to be old, but still..."

His voice trailed off. Casper was privately a little terrified. He loved Ben. What if something went wrong - what if they accidentally killed Ben again - like what if they destroyed him like whatever Selene had done when she ate up those ghosties?

"I'm a better liar than you are, bitch," Ben said, rolling his eyes.

Outside the House of M...

Andy had pulled herself away from Zarina, in order to not consume any of Zarina's precious life-force. As an Asgardian though, ironically Zarina would probably be one of the few people who would not be strongly hurt by a psychic vampire feeding briefly on them. It really did suck that all of this had to happen for Andy right here, right now - when she had finally managed to confess her feelings to Zari and find out that Zari had reciprocated. Today certainly had been a day of ups and downs - especially given Zari's fight with Magneto, in which he had decided to disown the valkyrie.

"NOT YET," the skull answered. The crows squawked expectantly at Andy. Her vision was blurring now. The wound the crows had caused had been healed by her new vampiric powers, but she had to replace that energy. If not with Zari's life force, then perhaps with the crows?

Outside the Green Lagoon...

If Martha had been something other than a floating brain in a jar, she might've rolled her eyes, twitched, or sighed slightly at the avalanche of thoughts coming in from Casper. They were disorganized and chaotic, some of them not even words, instead just being a series of images and vibes. "Oof... Your friend's mind is a disaster," Martha said into Callie and Veil's minds. "It's like a lost-and-found bin in there... Anyways, nothing's coming in from the other one. And the baby isn't going to respond either really."

"Wait, a baby?" Veil said, her eyes widening slightly. "That's what James and Casper were up to - is it their baby? Or is it someone else's baby nearby?" Veil asked. She couldn't imagine Casper as a parent, but she felt like James would be an amazing one. She just wasn't too sure whether Casper was really mature or thoughtful enough to raise someone - he seemed like a baby himself in a lot of ways.

"I'm not going to pry, that's gross - consent is important," Martha answered.

"... Fair," Veil said. All they could really do was pause and see if James would hopefully agree to come help them bring Ben back from the dead. Without them, this plan wouldn't work.